


A Proper Kiss

by FeelsForBreakfast



Series: Holigay Oneshots [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeelsForBreakfast/pseuds/FeelsForBreakfast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam has a Christmas party, Louis has a devious streak, and Harry has a crush on Niall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Proper Kiss

It’s really Christmas time now, that stretch of time after school gets out and before the holiday itself where everything exists in a snowy peppermint scented limbo, also known as Harry’s favorite time of year. 

Louis is forcing them to go Liam’s house for an impromptu holiday party, and so Harry is running around the house in a pair of festive santa socks in search of his boots while Zayn judges him from the kitchen.

“Harry, if we’re late Louis will probably kill us.” Zayn chides, his hands sneaking into the saran wrapped plate of cookies that Harry is supposed to be bringing to the party.

“I am just as acquainted with his temper as you are!” Harry yells from the living room, because while Zayn and Louis have been dating for months now, Harry has been Louis’ codependent best friend for years. 

“I doubt it.” Zayn smirks, and Harry has the feeling he’s making some ridiculous and multilayered innuendo, but he’s just found his shoes so he can’t really bring himself to think too hard about it.

“Alright, ready to go.” Harry announces, scarf wrapped up to his chin, hat shoved over his curls, thick mittens covering his hands.

Zayn looks significantly less puffy than Harry in his classic varsity jacket, cream colored turtleneck sticking out the top. He snickers when he sees Harry, passing him his cookies. “We’re going to Liam’s neighborhood, not the arctic circle, jesus Haz.”

“Well at least I’m not a turtleneck wearing douche.” Harry gripes as they head down his icy drive and pile into Zayn’s car.

“No need to be bitter about it, we all know Niall likes eating marshmallows.” Zayn pokes Harry in the side, using his other hand to drive. “Maybe he’ll eat you too.”

Harry faceplants into the dashboard, his hat providing a small cushion. “We don’t talk about that.”

Zayn shrugs. “We talk about whatever I want. Like your crush on Niall. That you have.”

“I wasn’t this mean to you while you were pining over Louis.” Harry whines, his cheeks heating. It’s not so much that he has a crush on Niall, its just that he’s always liked him and somehow over the summer his stupid peroxide blonde hair went dark at the roots, he’d gotten his braces off, shot up three inches and gone all firm limbs and dirty grins. The thing is, he’s kind of delicious and Harry really wants to know what his mouth tastes like and it’s not a crush.

“I’m not responsible for your missed opportunities.”

“Zaynnn.” Harry whines, sneaking a cookie into his mouth, crumbs sprinkling his lap and sticking to his mittens.

“Honey, you’ll never get into him if you don’t let him know you’re into him.” Harry lets out a wounded animal noise, throwing out one of his arms to hit Zayn in the shoulder. “Or get him into you, I don’t know what you want from your men.”

“Don’t act so fucking superior.” Harry grumbles. “Louis tells me the intimate details of his sex life whether I want to hear them or not. That rope thing? I heard about that. In detail.”

Zayn goes a little pink, but retains his smugness. “I’m not going to apologize for my kinks.”

“I will get out of this car.” Harry mutters, but continues his pouting routine from the passenger seat as they pull into Liam’s neighborhood, the houses getting bigger and beige-er, sparkling lights threading the gutters.

Liam’s house is a big tan thing with a few lighted reindeer camped out on the thin layer of snow, lights ringing the trees in gold. Zayn parks (badly) in front of the house, retrieving a storebought arrangement of sugar cookies from the backseat and following Harry up the lawn.

“Store bought cookies?” Harry says, raising his eyebrows in disapproval. “How sad.”

Zayn hip checks him. “You know I can’t bake you twat.”

The door swings open before Harry can continue his ribbing, Perrie appearing to usher them inside, a red mug of tea in her hand. “Hello lovelies!” 

Harry lets her bundle him into a hug. “Cute sweater.” He mumbles against her shoulder, cookies a little bit crushed between them.

“Thanks doll.” She lets him go, stealing both his and Zayn’s plates and leading them to the kitchen where everyone has splayed themselves across the counters and floor, coats in piles by their feet.

“Only five minutes late!” Announces Louis gleefully from the counter, reaching his arms out for Zayn and pulling him between his legs. “Haz you look like a marshmallow.”

Harry just sticks his tongue out. “I know, we’ve already been over this.”

Liam flicks the pom pom on his hat. “It’s alright, you make a great marshmallow.”

“Oh don’t I just.” Harry replies, pulling his hat and winter coat off, letting them pile on the counter. 

The kitchen is cozy, but seating isn’t really ideal, so they take the cookies and move the party downstairs. They end up circled on the carpet, playing a nearly violent game of BS while the Christmas radio station plays a jazzy version of Jingle Bells.

“Guys, can we please pick a new game?” Liam begs after Niall scatters his cards for the third time, Cher and Louis nearly ending up with black eyes during the struggle. “You’re going to get blood on my carpet.”

Cher laughs, poking Liam with her foot. “Oh have a drink Liam, lighten up!”

“You’re going to destroy my house!” He replies, but he’s smiling and when Dani pushes her mug of hot chocolate into his hands he doesn’t protest. Perrie managed to sneak a good bit of vodka out of her parents basement and so they’ve been spiking their hot chocolate all night, Elf style. It burns a little bit when it goes down, but they grin and pretend they’re cool enough to enjoy it. 

They aren’t drunk, but everything burns a little brighter and everyone laughs a little louder and Harry wants to touch Niall’s ruddy cheeks and rest against his chest.

Danielle knocks her shoulder against Liam’s, giving him a fond smile. “So what do you want to do then?”

“Lets play suck and blow.” Louis suggests from where he’s laying down on Zayn’s legs.

“I don’t know what that game is but I want in.” Harry adds from where he’s cuddled up against Cher, her delicate fingers carding through his curls. He’s been friends with Louis long enough to know that playing along with his crazy plans can go wrong, but usually in hilarious ways that make for great stories afterwards.

Louis leans over to bop him on the head. “Thankyou Harry, your support is appreciated.” He addresses the group in general, who are all giving him wary expressions. “Oh don’t look at me like that! It’s PG. PG13. Whatever. I take a card, suck it so it stays on my lips, and the I pass it to the person next to me and if I drop it before then get it we have to kiss. Simple.”

“I don’t think I’m going to enjoy this as much as you are.” Liam says, looking significantly at Zayn and then back to Louis. “I think you just want an excuse to make out with people.”

Louis sticks his tongue out petulantly, but doesn’t contradict him.

“Don’t worry, Li, you can sit by the girls.” Danielle says as she pats him on the knee, making him duck his head and flush an adorable shade of pink.

“Wouldn’t want you to catch the gay.” Louis quips as the circle is rearranged, Cher sits on Liam’s right, Niall between Dani and Zayn, Harry staying by Perrie and Louis.

“I’m going to end up kissing Pez, aren’t I?” Cher says, wigging her eyebrows at the blonde.

“Not if we play the game right.” Perrie replies, but blows her a kiss anyway.

“Haz, come over here, I don’t want you moving in on my boyfriend.” Zayn says, patting the space between him and Niall with a knowing grin. So maybe Zayn is an okay friend when he isn’t being an annoying prick.

Harry thinks about protesting but crawls over instead, settling so his and Niall’s knees touch. He pretends not to notice.

Louis picks up one of the cards, sucking it against his mouth and gesturing for Zayn to take it. He leans in, and there’s a moment where their faces are pressed together, before Zayn pulls back, card attached to his mouth. His eyebrows shoot up and he gives the circle a thumbs up before turning to Harry. 

He leans in, the cigarettes and hair gel smell of Zayn filling his nose as he sucks the card against his mouth. There’s a moment where he’s positive its going to fall, but somehow he ends up with it successfully against his lips.

As he turns towards Niall’s sunny grin he finds himself suddenly nervous. In some ways, he hopes he buggers up the pass, that the card drops and Harry can kiss that smile onto his own lips. At the same time he’s completely forgotten how to function, how to breathe and how to kiss and he’s terribly afraid that it’s not going to be like all the times he imagined it, that he’ll go in for too much and Niall will put back and give him that eyebrow raise he sometimes does like what are you doing, its not like that Haz. He wants so much for it to be like that.

But then Niall is leaning forward and Harry is leaning forward and he’s torn between squeezing his eyes shut and just staring at Niall’s big blue ones forever, but then the card is off his lips and he’s managed it.

He smiles big and wide as Niall passes the card easily to Dani, who in turn gets it to Liam. It’s moderately stressful, this passing around the circle, but its not actually that difficult. Harry suspects that, as Liam pointed out, the real point of the game is to ‘accidentally’ make out with people. Accidental makeouts happen to be Louis’ area of expertise so he’s really not all that shocked. 

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Louis drops the card just before Zayn can get it, and leans in for a kiss that makes Cher clap excitedly, saying “You two are adorable!” just as Liam lets out a sigh and says to no one in particular “See I told you this was just an excuse for them to make out. I told you.”

Zayn pushes Louis back before things can get too steamy, dropping a chaste kiss onto his forehead. “You’re being deliberately terrible.”

Louis shrugs loftily, handing Zayn the card. “I’m nothing of the sort.”

Zayn just rolls his eyes, turning to Harry. Just as he’s about got the card, Louis pokes a finger into Zayn’s side, making the thin rectangle fall to the ground. 

“Sabotage!” Yells Niall as Zayn gives Louis a pointed look before landing a kiss on Harry’s lips. It’s quick, barely enough time for their mouths to mesh, and that’s fairly okay with Harry. Zayn is an attractive bloke, but he spends a lot of his time kissing Louis and that’s just a little too close to incest for Harry’s taste.

“Thanks, Lou.” Harry replies, wiping his mouth. “Appreciated that.”

Louis smiles. “I’m not even sorry either.”

Zayn leans, whispering something in his ear that Harry is fairly sure he doesn’t want to hear. “You two are gross.” He says before pressing the card to his mouth and turning to Niall.

Niall is smiling wide at him, that heart stopping grin that lights up his entire face. It’s actually really not fair, his soft pinks and bright blues making Harry’s insides squirm and his palms sweat. Niall is leaning in and so Harry does too, their eyes locked as their lips touch through the tiny layer of cardboard. If Harry were a sappy romantic he’d probably say that in that moment it was like they were the only ones alive, that for an instant the universe chose them for its axis.

But he’s not. Honest.

And then the moment breaks, Niall pulling away with the card and passing it to Dani, leaving Harry lightheaded in a way he hopes isn’t written all over his face. Luckily, attention is directed away from him as Dani lets the card fall from her lips just before she can pass it to Liam. 

He looks down at the fallen card, flushing as he looks back up at her. She just smiles, resting a hand on the back of his neck and pulling him in, giving him a slow kiss. It’s sweet and lovely and Cher and Perrie both clap and make little happy noises when the two pull back.

The game resumes, Liam still decidedly pink, the card making its way successfully around the circle all the way back to Harry. As he turns, he really starts to regret accepting Zayn’s offer to sit next to Niall, because this whole handoff thing is way more emotional trauma than he signed up for.

Niall is gorgeous as always, lips slightly parted as he waits for the pass. Harry leans in, is about to touch the card to Niall’s lips when a tiny puff of air escapes and suddenly the card is fluttering to the ground. He stares down after it, eyes widening. “Oh shit.”

Niall’s laugh echoes next to him, as he picks up the card and waves it in front of Harry’s face. “Drop something?”

Harry blushes, hiding his face behind his hands. “This is mortifying, Louis I hate this game.”

Zayn hits him. “Just kiss him you dweeb.”

Harry looks up at Niall, who’s giving him a fond half smile. “You heard him, kiss me.”

Harry nods, sticky palms resting on his thighs and he leans forward, pressing his lips tentatively to Niall’s. Niall smiles against his mouth, one hand on Harry’s shoulder and the other pressed to his cheek, the tips rough from years of playing guitar. They stay there like that for a moment, Harry letting his eyes flutter shut, hands coming up to rest on Niall’s waist, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. 

He smells like cologne and sweets and Harry wants to know how he really kisses, but he reigns himself in, their lips molded together but nothing more. It’s lovely, simple and it makes the little hopeful place in Harry’s heart surge because it feels like forever and Niall still hasn’t pulled away.

And then someone wolf whistles, he thinks it’s Louis, and Niall is pulling back, a great big smile on his face. Harry finds himself hiding in Zayn’s shoulder as the game continues, wishing he could taste more of Niall on his lips.

 

xx

 

It’s ten o’clock when Liam’s basement gets boring and they’re drunk and stupid enough to head outside into the clear night. The half moon glows bright in the sharp darkness and their breath swirls like smoke out of their mouths, and it’s nice because it’s the holidays and they can’t seem to get the smiles off of their faces. Liam’s backyard is big and they’ve all spread out, Cher and Louis working on a rather ridiculous snowman while Zayn smokes nearby, Perrie and Dani trying to engage Liam in a snowball fight. 

Harry was a former member of the snowman crew, but he didn’t put his puffy jacket on, thinking his warm blue sweater and hat would be enough, only realizing later that a thin layer of wool is not enough to keep out the freezing temperatures.

Which is how he ends up creeping back into Liam’s house to get his jacket, and how he runs into Niall, who’s sitting on Liam’s counter eating one of Zayn’s cookies. They’re bright green christmas trees, and they’ve given Niall’s tongue an emerald cast, painting the inside of his mouth sugary and green.

“Hey Haz, hiding inside already?” He asks, kicking the cabinets with his socked feet, white henley pushed up to his elbows. 

“You’re one to talk.” Harry’s replies, heading over to where Niall’s sitting as he picks out a cookie. He thinks they’re one of the ones Perrie brought, these peanut butter things with hershey kisses pressed into them. 

“I’m only here for the food and the booze mate.” Niall replies, purposefully debonair. 

Harry rolls his eyes. “Don’t act like you don’t appreciate the company.”

Niall gives him a crooked half smile. “Could be worse, could be worse.” He reaches for Harry’s hands, stealing them from where they’re hanging at his sides. “You’re freezing.”

Harry shrugs, wishing he had more feeling in his fingers as Niall warms them with his own hands. “A little.”

“Can I ask ya somethin?” He asks, irish accent getting more pronounced as he speaks, looking down at Harry with a curious look on his face.

Harry nods, not daring to hope. “Yeah, anything.”

He seems to deliberate over the words for long moment, a serious tilt to his brow. “You didn’t drop the card on purpose, did you?”

Harry shakes his head and it’s not technically a lie. “No, not on purpose.”

Niall nods, dropping his hands and Harry can feel the opportunity slipping through his fingers. “Well I mean, I wasn’t sorry I dropped it.” He says softly. 

“Neither was I.” Niall replies, a cheeky gleam in his eyes. “Wasn’t a proper kiss though.”

“What’s a proper kiss?” Harry asks, leaning so he’s only an inch or two below Niall, his legs open so Harry can rest between them, hips against the counter.

“Do you want the explanation or the demonstration?” Niall asks, resting his arms on Harry’s shoulders, fingers twirling the hair behind his head. 

“Do you even half to ask?” Harry asks against Niall’s lips, excitement pulling in his chest, pushing him closer to Niall, hands resting on the crease where his thighs meet his waist. 

“No, not really.” Niall smiles, letting their lips brush, then crush together. It’s better than Harry imagined, a tentative push and pull as they work out where their mouths go. Niall is enthusiastic, fingers that tug at Harry’s curls, holding onto them like they’re a lifeline, and he is more than pleased to return his energy, slipping his hands underneath Niall’s shirt and sliding fingers over soft skin.

Niall urges Harry’s mouth open, letting Harry pull him off the counter and press him against the cabinets, his hands sliding into Harry’s back pockets. He’s trying to figure out how to get his tongue properly into Niall’s mouth when the blonde boy pulls back, resting his forehead against Harrys. “Your lips are all cold.”

“I was trying to fix that problem.” Harry replies, going back in for a peck. “Yours were warm.”

Niall laughs, a sound that’s even better when it ends up in Harry’s mouth. “So where does this leave us?”

“It could leave us kissing.” Harry replies with a tiny sullen tilt to his expression because feelings are all well and good but he can totally talk about feelings after he’s snogged Niall senseless.

Niall touches their noses together, eyes sparkling. “But we can about this later, right? This us thing?” He pauses. “Is there an us thing?”

Harry smiles, reaching up to brush Niall’s cheek with his fingers. “Of course there’s an us thing. Why else would I be kissing you?”

Niall shrugs. “Because I’m fantastically good looking?”

Harry smiles, brushing his lips against Niall’s and pushing back him into the cabinet. “Well that was always part of it.”

Niall just smiles, pulling Harry’s mouth back to his, and its either the heat of the kitchen or Niall’s hands, but he’s ended up all warm inside.

He thinks it might be Niall.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, comments and kudos are always appreciated. (:


End file.
